Beyond Management Control: A Nexus of Relational Practices as Enablers and Boundaries for Strategizing in the Face of Uncertainty

Abstract

By adopting relational practice theory on a case study of a Finnish software company, a solution provider for the public healthcare sector, this study examines how the nexus of practices, and their socio-historical premises, enable and constrain intentional strategizing in an organization about to survive the ten-year Death Valley phase. The strategy literature adopting a practice lens has been focused on the rationality of human actions or implicated that all practices are shaped by the historical socio-cultural background of the organization. As a consequence, the practice-based strategy literature tends to overemphasize the rationality of human action or reduces human agency to an extent where the autonomy of actors becomes problematized. These practice-based strategy views circumscribe relational agency as inherent in practice theory treating human agents as acting within a nexus of practices but also consider them as being free to make choices. Findings suggest that even during intentional strategizing, managers are not fully autonomous in their choices as practices constrain possibilities and set boundaries for strategic activities. Prior commitments determine the possible strategic themes to pursue. Within the boundaries of these strategic themes, strategic activities emerge where the strategic activities are shaped by a nexus of practices within and around the organizational boundaries. Depending on the complexity of mutually dependent entertwined strategic activities, they can be perceived as being beyond management control, or considered strategically irrelevant, which influences the strategic direction in the face of uncertainty.

Citation

Okkonen, H. (2023), "Beyond Management Control: A Nexus of Relational Practices as Enablers and Boundaries for Strategizing in the Face of Uncertainty", Andersen, T.J. (Ed.) Responding to Uncertain Conditions: New Research on Strategic Adaptation (Emerald Studies in Global Strategic Responsiveness), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 107-130. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-964-220231006